FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY
Church and Second Streets, Easton, Pennsylvania, June 20th, 1974
Fifty years ago today, I borrowed a friend’s 8×10 view camera and drove from New York City to Easton, Pennsylvania. For the past year I had been using a 4×5 camera and now wanted to try out a larger format. I set up the camera at the intersection of Church Street and 2nd Street. This was the first exposure I made. I remember vividly the experience of looking under the dark cloth at the 8×10 ground glass, of adjusting the camera. I had the sensation that I had found the tool I had been looking for (although until that moment, I wasn’t aware that I had been searching for one). It felt familiar. I knew this camera. It became my primary camera for the next 28 years.